Anna Narvid says that teaching mindfulness to kids is an “extraordinary way to help them generate esteem, cultivate calm, and deal with difficulty.”
Anna offers some thoughtful and beyond-the-usual ideas for practicing ‘meditation’ with children. Try a few, then let us know how they work for you and yours.
Meditation for Children—2 Simple Exercises
Drawing Meditation
- Sit down with your child in a quiet, comfortable spot
- Allow your child to pick one object in the room to focus on
- With your child, look at the object and describe what you see
- Have your child draw the object as best she/he can
- Together, descriptively compare and contrast the drawing and the object
- If your child seems finished with the exercise, then you are done—if not, continue…
- Now, choose a different place in the room to sit
- Look at the object again from this alternate location
- With your child, look at the object and describe what you see
- Repeat the exercise until you feel your child feels like she/he is finished!
Reporting Meditation
- Toward the end of the day, sit with your child in a quiet, comfortable spot
- Ask your child to go through the day in his/her mind
- Next, have your child narrate the story of his/her day.
- Help your child identify the order of events chronologically
- Repeat back what your child has detailed and allow him/her to clarify, correct, or confirm
- When the conversation feels complete, you are finished!
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Thanks for referencing my article and promoting the techniques I suggest. I have personally had great experiences with various mindfulness activities. My individual journey to wellness supplies personal direction and exclusive understanding of meditation as a principle, practice, and pursuit; however, a sole perspective is a limited one. Meditation, for me, calls for a collective consciousness. I look within to better see without. For children, the "I" and the "me" are simultaneously ever-present. As an adult, I trusted the children I had been working with (Youth & Families Coordinator for Colorado and Wyoming 2003) to be my teachers, my mentors, my guides. The 3 simple–and fun–exercises detailed in the article were some of the fruits that ripened after reflective contemplation, cooperative discovery, and communal enjoyment. I honor our community as we search within, seek awareness, stir creativity, and sense peace. I welcome dialogue; I welcome ideas; I welcome support; I welcome guidance.